page_title: Charles Wesley Powell
section_title: Images of Powell and his Canal Zone garden
hierarchical_section_title: Charles Wesley Powell / Powell's Horticultural Garden goes global / Images of Powell and his Canal Zone garden
caption_attribution_description: Exterior view of garden with w:Charles Wesley Powell shown for scale
context_page_description: Charles Wesley Powell was an American hobbyist turned horticulturist specializing in the study of orchids. He is credited with providing scientists the first large-scale collection of orchid specimens found in Panama. In the early 1900s, he became internationally famous for his new discoveries and valuable contributions to orchidology by gathering, rediscovering, cultivating, preserving, documenting, and submitting-for-study a diverse assortment of hundreds of distinct specimens: yielding many new to science species.
  Powell's specimen records and his Panama garden were studied by researchers at the Royal Botanical Gardens, the Berlin Botanical Garden, the Orchid Herbarium of Oakes Ames at Harvard University, the National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian Institution, and the Missouri Botanical Garden. Dozens of orchid species were named in his honor. In 1922, German botanist Rudolf Schlechter published his 95-page Orchidaceae Powellianae Panamenses: principally on the basis of
  Powell's efforts.
context_section_description: "Orchids are surprisingly difficult to see in the wild; the majority being epiphytic, growing high in the canopy on trunks, branches or in crotches out of sight." In Powell's garden they were at eye-level—a sight to behold. "A rustic gate gives entrance to this miniature paradise. The gate posts are formed of dead jungle trees covered with Orchids. The walks, bordered with beautiful ferns and lilies, lead between Orchid-covered dead trees that are a riot of colour." "Much painstaking labor has converted it into a miniature jungle—plus all the beauty and minus all the dangers of a real jungle. There are few thrills equal to seeing in the early morning a host of these beautiful flowers that have suddenly burst in full blossom, nodding a merry good morning."
  Six images are hosted in an online exhibit by Missouri Digital Heritage: contributions by Missouri Botanical Garden.
  Powell Orchid Garden. Balboa, Panama #1. Powell relaxing in a chair
  Powell Orchid Garden #2. Powell dwarfed by the size of his garden
  George Pring, George Moore, Charles Powell at the Tropical Station #3.
  Powell Orchid Garden #4. Inspecting a plant.
  Powell Orchid Garden #5. Wall to wall orchids.
  Powell Orchid Garden #6. Young woman (possibly daughter) in garden.
  Thumbnail image of Powell captured in 1923, examining a night-blooming cereus from his garden: hosted by the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation.
caption: Exterior garden view. Powell on left, dressed in white, for scale
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